Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1159832
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 AUGUST 2019 NEWS MINISTRY FOR EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT Invitation for Food and Beverage Suppliers The Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) is inviting food and beverage suppliers including importers, distributors and wholesalers to express their interest in supplying their products for the day-to-day needs of ITS Food & Beverage lectures. This is an opportunity for suppliers to showcase their products. Prospective operators must be compliant with Food Safety Standards and registered with the Food Safety Commission; relevant documents are to be submitted. Interested parties are to submit their interest to Food & Beverage Procurement Department on fnbprocurement@its.edu.mt by not later than Friday 30th August 2019 by noon. YANNICK PACE A national protest scheduled to take place in September has received the support of 52 civil society groups, Movi- ment Graffitti said yesterday. The protest will take place at Valletta on 7 September, with a public forum seek- ing citizens' contributions in formulating the protest's de- mands to be held before. Graffitti said that the groups which had registered their participation included envi- ronmental NGOs and resi- dents from localities like Ze- jtun, Pembroke, Marsaskala, Attard, Pieta' and Zebbug, as well as cultural, human rights' and students' organisations. "It is truly encouraging to see that a wide array of people from different backgrounds and with different interests are coalescing to demand an end to the unbridled environ- mental destruction and a bet- ter quality of life," the NGO said. Graffitti said that organisa- tions are still in time to reg- ister their participation on www.7settembru.org. The protest will be making six demands aimed at "rein- ing in excessive and haphaz- ard construction through": changing planning policies ; reforming authorities re- sponsible for the environ- ment and planning; a morato- rium on large-scale projects until a comprehensive and serious plan for development is introduced; a strategy on roads and alternative trans- portation; regulation of the construction industry and; protecting biodiversity and citizens' health. Members of the public will be given the opportunity to submit their proposals and input in relation to the six demands during the public forum, which will be held on Wednesday 28 August at the Friends of the Earth offices in Floriana at 7pm. All proposals put forward during this public meeting will be taken note of and in- tegrated into a set of "reason- able demands" that will be presented to the authorities, Graffitti said. "This Public Forum is strict- ly reserved to those who have no means of making their voices heard during five years of legislature; Members of Parliament are not welcome." 'MPs not welcome' at Graffitti public forum on protest demands MASSIMO COSTA A fourth ferry added to the Gozo Channel sched- ule has done much to speed up the boarding process at the Cirkewwa and Mgarr ports: traffic queues have now decreased considerably thanks to the increased frequency of ferries. Yet despite welcoming the fourth ferry boat – a Greek vessel called the Nikolaos – as a positive development, Gozo Business Chamber Joseph Borg still said this would not be the ultimate solu- tion for Gozitans' accessibility to the main island. "We have been proposing a fourth ship for many years… but the addition of a ferry is not the ultimate solution to the problem of commuting between Malta and Gozo," Borg said, whose busi- ness chamber is a major supporter of the Gozo- Malta tunnel, a controversial project whose hefty price tag and major environmental implications has green activists concerned. "We feel that the fact we now have a fourth ves- sel is very positive and has shortened queues. But it is not the final solution," Borg said, noting that only last Tuesday morning he waited for 30 min- utes to board a ferry from Gozo. "While an improvement on previous queueing times, it is still far from ideal. "So the ferry should not replace the need for a tunnel. It is now more of a rare occasion when you have to wait for a long time for a ferry, so it's a substantial improvement. But it still doesn't re- place the tunnel," he added. The shortcomings of the fourth ferry were fur- ther highlighted by Gozitan lawyer Joe Ellis, who frequently commutes between Gozo and Malta to carry out his court duties. Ellis told MaltaToday that, while queues have indeed been shortened, the Nikolaos was an "inferior" vessel. "There are a considerable number of stairs on board, which make it impossible for the elderly or disabled to access the upper decks, forcing them to remain in their cars," Ellis said. Ellis said that, due to some of its characteristics, the ship might also encounter more problems with bad weather when navigating through rough seas than the rest of the fleet. "No ferry service is able to operate 24/7 with- out fail, since factors such as bad weather, strikes or mechanical problems might come into play," he said. "And I suspect that in winter, as demand lessens, there will be less frequent trips – although I do welcome this summer's increased schedule." Ellis emphasised that he remained in favour of a permanent link connecting the two islands, re- marking that Malta ought to take a leaf out of the Faroe Islands' book, which are building two tun- nels linking their islands. "I invite everyone to look into the two tunnels which the Faroe Islands will be investing in to connect its islands. The Faroe Islands have a pop- ulation of around 50,000 people, and the tunnels will total around €260 million in cost," he said, as he suggested this showed that building a tunnel between Malta and Gozo was not a project which was out of reach. The Faroe Islands' subsea tunnels are 7.1km and 10.6km in length, while the tunnel between Gozo and Malta is projected to be 13km long. Touching on the popular debate on whether it would make more sense to build a metro than a tunnel, Ellis said that the construction of one did not have to come at the expense of the other. "It's not a binary choice between a tunnel and a metro. We can have both a tunnel and a metro, and commuters can use both in the course of their trips." Fourth ferry solves queues, but Gozo business still wants tunnel After fourth ferry, is Gozo tunnel needed?